Thousands of Russians celebrating the Orthodox Christian feast day of Epiphany, where worshippers bathe in the icy waters of frozen lakes and rivers, have been forced to cancel their traditional ceremonies due to unusually warm winter temperatures.

Thousands of Orthodox Christians marked the feast day of Epiphany on Sunday with a traditional dip into icy water.

However local emergency services in some regions cancelled events, saying it was too hazardous for worshippers to cut bathing holes in icy ponds and rivers View on euronews

Russians in the southern city of Anapa took their traditional Epiphany dips in waters affected by a major oil spill, officials said, despite concerns about the toxic pollution.